As I've shared on occasion, I never write my columns in advance. I choose to wait until Tuesday morning and to let whatever is troubling me, or pleasing me, or just buzzing around my head -- to come tumbling out on to the page. Some weeks, that can be a painful and tortured process and I sometimes worry if I'll be able to find the words I need for my space in the paper. I've been writing my own column for 20 of the 21 years I've been at the newspaper.